Meet the Anti-Feminist Women's Group Leveraging Their 'Independence' to Convince Americans to Vote Republican
FUCK ALL THE GODDAMNED WOMAN-HATERS!
(disturbing, important read)
Meet the Anti-Feminist Women’s Group Leveraging Their ‘Independence’ to Convince Americans to Vote Republican
5/15/2024 by Ansev Demirhan
The anti-feminist Independent Women’s Voice/Forum, backed by billionaires and anti-abortion zealots, is poised to use its leaders’ identities as women to convince voters that the GOP will protect Americans’ rights and freedoms.
Kellyanne Conway, former advisor to former President Donald Trump, previously sat on IWF/Vs board. (Drew Angerer / Getty Images)
The anti-feminist Independent Women’s Voice/Forum (IWF/V) has officially launched its 2024 election agenda. An internal fundraising document provided to True North Research shows one way it is putting that agenda into action is by continuing to try and blunt the horrific repercussions of the Supreme Court overturning Roe, while deploying their veneer of independence to sway centrist and independent voters. The document details a two-phase plan and a budget that is almost twice the amount it proposed in its 2022 midterm fundraising documents, as reported by The Washington Post. Despite claiming to take no position on abortion, IWF/V launched a PR campaign ahead of the 2022 midterms—the first election cycle following the Dobbs decision—which included advertising trying to convince younger women that reproductive rights were less important than other issues the group listed.
One way IWF/V’s agenda for this election cycle stands out from its previous midterm action plan is its emphasis on reassuring women that access to contraception is not in jeopardy—despite key voices in the anti-abortion movement making it clear otherwise. The group is a member of Project 2025, a MAGA blueprint that includes detailed plans to attack contraception access, promote the rhythm method, deploy the CDC to increase “abortion surveillance” and data collection and much more. IWF/V also has a long history of undermining contraception access, though the group has a talking point about supporting over-the-counter availability of the contraception pill.
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IWF’s Ties to Anti-Abortion Power Brokers
IWF/V has received more than $6.8 million in funding from Leonard Leo, the anti-abortion powerbroker who engineered the Supreme Court capture, and his network since 2014. IWF/V’s legal arm, the Independent Women’s Law Center (IWLC) recently filed a lawsuit against the Biden Administration for making Title IX more inclusive. The law firm representing them is Consovoy McCarthy. One of the firm’s partners, Tyler Green, is one of only three trustees listed for the Marble Freedom Trust—a $1.6 billion trust given to Leonard Leo in 2020 by anti-abortion billionaire Barre Seid. IWF/V also played an active role in supporting Supreme Court nominees that were hand-picked by Leo, aiding in his engineered ‘Court capture.’ They helped ensure Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court and viciously attacked Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, the Stanford psychologist who credibly accused Kavanaugh of attempted sexual assault, even though Kavanaugh denied it. IWF/V’s leader, Heather Higgins, even took credit for teaching Senator Susan Collins and FOX how to navigate the Kavanaugh controversies. IWF also rallied behind Amy Coney Barrett during her nomination process, including staging an “I’m with Her” event outside of the Supreme Court.
Additionally, Erin Hawley, of Alliance Defending Freedom fame—the legal team responsible for creating the Mississippi legislation that ultimately allowed the Supreme Court to overturn Roe—was on staff at IWLC at the same time she was working to eliminate federal protections for abortion access. IWF/V, backed by billionaires and anti-abortion zealots, is poised to use its leaders’ identities as women to convince voters that the GOP will protect Americans’ rights and freedoms, like access to birth control and the ability to choose if and when to have children. IWF/V’s past positions, the known agendas of their funders and their membership to Project 2025 belie their true intentions.
Lisa Graves, director of True North, and Alyssa Bowen, director of True North’s Equality Project, contributed to this story.
https://msmagazine.com/2024/05/15/meet-the-anti-feminist-womens-group-leveraging-their-independence-to-convince-americans-to-vote-republican/